Community Feedback Sought for Highway 49 Safety Concepts

Caltrans and Placer County Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery invite community residents to provide feedback about a new roadway safety concept involving roundabouts that will be presented by Caltrans and Placer County Transportation Planning staff to the North Auburn Municipal Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday, October 10 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Placer County’s Community Development Resource Agency’s Planning Commission Chambers, 3091 County Center Drive in Auburn off Bell Road.

A recent spike in highway fatalities generated a grass-roots community effort to identify solutions to reduce highway collisions and fatalities on Highway 49 between Auburn and Grass Valley. Caltrans, Nevada and Placer County staff and residents, the California Highway Patrol (CHP), local officials and members of the Citizens for Highway 49 Safety group are working together to plan safety improvements for this corridor.

In addition to increased funding for CHP enforcement of traffic laws, ten safety improvement projects on Highway 49 are now planned by Caltrans. In addition, a preliminary engineering concept has been proposed that would allow for a concrete median barrier to be installed on the roadway through the use of roundabouts located at selected intersections along the highway. Roundabouts would allow residents prevented from turning left by the concrete median barrier to reverse course in an efficient and safe manner as well as address a frequently voiced community concern – speeding motorists.